


The Aftermath

by bookinit



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Mid Credits Scene, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 21:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19709671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookinit/pseuds/bookinit
Summary: Peter looks at the screen.He can’t think. He can’t breathe. All he can think is that he needs to get the hell out of there.What would Tony do?The aftermath of THAT scene. (you know the one.)





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Spider-Man FFH was absolutely incredible and probably one of my favorite movies ever. That being said, the mid-credits scene absolutely shook me to my core. Like... I am not okay!! Enjoy :)

Peter watched in growing horror at the video that was playing on the screen. He wasn’t a bad guy! He hadn’t killed Beck, hadn’t ordered the drones to kill hundreds of civilians... but the citizens of New York didn’t know that. He watched as Beck took his last dying breaths, gasped out, “Spider-Man’s name is Pe-“

The video grew staticky and cut out. Peter breathed out a sigh of relief. Well  _ that _ would have been bad. 

“Spider-Man’s name is Peter Parker.”

The voice was clear and rang across the crowded New York square. Peter couldn’t breathe. He took gasping, heaving breaths as he tried to work out his next steps. He shot a panicked look to MJ, who had tears streaming down her cheeks. 

He needed to get out of there. Every eye was on him, and he could hear police sirens approaching. He shot a web at the nearest building and swung himself down the street as fast as he could. He had no idea where he was going, he could barely think, barely breathe, barely even see through the tears in his eyes. He felt like he was having a panic attack. 

“Peter, you’re having a panic attack,” came the calm voice of Karen.  _ Thanks Karen, real helpful.  _ He took some deep breaths, per her instructions, and landed in a random back alley. 

_ Okay Peter, focus. Think.  _ All his friends and family were in danger now that every villain knew who he was. This was bad. This was really,  _ really _ bad. Okay, he needed a plan. 

He needed... a disguise. Everyone was looking for Spider-Man  _ and  _ Peter Parker. He needed to be neither. 

He ripped off his mask and put on his glasses. “Edith, do you have any sort of... cloaking technology? Something that could make me look different?” He asked frantically. 

“Peter, I am the most advanced Artificial Intelligence in the world. Of course I have cloaking technology,” she replied, sounding almost offended. 

“Okay, I need you to make me look like just a random guy. Just someone you would pass by on the street. Change the outfit too.” 

Peter looked down as blue light rippled over his body, changing his suit to a much more inconspicuous shirt and jeans. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a dirty puddle and saw... just an average guy. Maybe 20s, 30s, no unique defining characteristics at all. Perfect. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out of the alley just as the police arrived. 

“Sir, you shouldn’t be here, it’s not safe. Spider-Man is on the loose,” the officer said. He clapped a hand on his shoulder and Peter fought hard not to jump. Even though logically he knew he looked different, his anxiety was through the roof. 

“Y-yes officer, of course,” he stammered as he walked away. As he left, he heard, “Are you sure he was here?” and “Yeah, but I guess we missed him.” Damn, he really dodged a bullet there. 

As he merged into the crowd, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.  _ Please pick up, please pick up.  _

“Peter! Are you okay?” came Happy’s frantic voice. Peter sighed in relief. 

“Happy, did you see the news? I’m laying low right now but i really need help-“ Peter started. 

“Already on it, kid. I’m only a couple minutes out from your location, Stark Industries is working on the situation. Just sit tight, okay?” Peter took a deep breath. He looked around before stopping to sit on a nearby bench, hoping he didn’t look too suspicious. Everyone on the street was talking about the news. 

“Can you believe it?”

“I always knew Spider-Man was a danger to society.”

“I can’t believe we thought a kid was good enough to protect the city. What a joke.”

Peter’s eyes burned with unshed tears. He wished Mr. Stark was here. He would know what to do. Mr. Stark had trusted him, and what was the first thing he had done? Put his trust in a villian just because he looked like his dead mentor, put his friends in danger, and almost killed an innocent civilian. He didn’t deserve this power. Peter thought back to Beck’s illusion, Mr. Stark’s grave.  _ Maybe if you were good enough, Tony would still be alive.  _ But...

“Spider-Man saved my daughter from a burning building. I trust him.”

“I owe Spider-Man my life. There’s no way he’s a bad guy.”

“I go to school with Peter. He’s a great person... better than any of us.” That one had Peter looking up.  _ Flash? _ He knew Flash was a huge Spider-Man fan, but he figured once the mask came off, the adoration would quickly turn back to hatred. But there he was, out on the street, defending Peter’s character with his every breath. Peter smiled. 

The sound of a horn honking had Peter looking up.  _ Happy!  _ He got up from the bench and into the waiting car as fast as possible. 

As soon as he was in the car, he disabled the cloaking technology. Happy’s windows were tinted to the point where nothing could be seen, and he was finally safe. But that didn’t mean everything was okay... it was far from it. 

“Happy, my friends and family are in trouble! There’s probably people on their way to them already. We need to-“ Peter started, panicked. 

“Peter, it’s okay. Your friends and family are safe, we already had people pick them up. Pepper already set up a PR conference to fix all this. She’s great at this stuff, kid. You’ll be okay.”

Relieved, Peter slumped against his seat. What would he do without Happy and Pepper? Even though Tony was gone, his family was still looking after him. “Thank you, Happy. Really... thank you  _ so _ much.”

Happy met his eye in the rearview mirror. “It’s no problem, kid. Family looks out for each other.”

***

Peter startled awake, momentarily disoriented. The feeling of the car gliding to a stop reminded him where he was, and what was going on. He looked out the window to see the Avengers compound. 

“Alright kid, it’s time. Up and at ‘em,” Happy said before getting out of the car and opening Peter’s door. Peter hesitated for a moment before cautiously stepping out. He didn’t see any news crews or cameras... not yet, at least. 

Peter wasn’t going to lie, he was extremely nervous about the press conference that Pepper had set up. He had never been good with publicity, even when it was just a few reporters at Aunt May’s charity event. The camera flashes and loud voices always set off his sensory overload, and then combined with the pressure of everyone knowing his identity... it was a lot to handle. What if it didn’t work? What if they didn't believe him and he went to jail? So much could go wrong. 

Peter stepped into the compound and was met by Pepper and Morgan. Pepper took one look at him and immediately pulled him into a hug.

“It’ll be okay, Peter. You’re okay,” she soothed as she carded her fingers through his hair and held him tight. Peter felt Morgan’s little arms wrap around his legs and he couldn’t take it anymore. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from sobbing. 

“I messed up, Pepper. I messed up so bad. Tony would be so disappointed...” Peter choked out through shallow breaths. Pepper immediately pulled back to look him in the eye, her hands on his shoulders. 

“Peter, never say that. Tony  _ loved _ you. He was proud of you in everything you did. What happened with Beck was in no way your fault. You saved a whole city, thousands of miles from home. That sounds like a success to me.” Pepper smiled at him softly. 

“Yeah! You’re the greatest, Peter! Daddy always used to tell me about how Spider-Man was the bravest hero, and he was the coolest, nicest, smartest person ever! That’s you!” Morgan looked up at him with child-like wonder, a huge grin on her face. Peter looked down at her, then bent down to give her a hug. 

“Thank you, Morgan. That means a lot to me.” He couldn’t believe how highly this little girl — Tony’s  _ daughter _ — thought of him. The fact that Tony had told her all those nice things about him... maybe he did love Peter after all. Maybe he really did believe in him, really did think of him as more than a kid. 

“You’re my hero, Peter,” Morgan’s tiny voice whispered in his ear. Peter rubbed at his eyes and held her tighter. He looked up at Pepper to see her giving them both a warm look, filled with love.  _ Thank you,  _ he mouthed. She just smiled back. 

***

“Okay, so how do we do this?” Peter asked. He had calmed down and started preparing for the press conference, and a makeup lady had come to cover up his tear tracks and cuts and bruises. He was still nervous as hell. 

“The cards are in our favor, really,” Pepper began to explain, “ The Daily Bugle is known for being a cheap gossip site, and most of their stories are garbage. The part people believed, though, was the video. Lucky for us, we have Beck’s projector that proves he was lying with the projections. And—“ Pepper cut off, glancing at Peter hesitantly. 

“What is it? Everything sounds good so far,” he pressed. Pepper looked nervous, which was very uncharacteristic for her. 

“With your permission, of course— the PR team thinks it would be a good idea to use the,” she made a face, “ _ B.A.R.F  _ technology. It’s entirely up to you, of course, because the process can be incredibly emotionally invasive. My biggest concern is that the police are still looking to bring you in for questioning, and we really need an airtight case.”

“With just the projector as evidence, our case is a little flimsy, but we could still make it work with a lot of effort. We would only need the parts of your memory from the battle, and we can block out your face very easily. But I don’t want to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. Please know that this is entirely  _ your _ decision.” Pepper looked at him for confirmation. 

“Of course I’ll do it, Pepper. It really doesn’t sound that bad, and I’m fine with everyone seeing the truth of what happened. Thank you, though,” Peter smiled tiredly. If digging through his memories was what it took to prove his innocence, then he would do it in a heartbeat. He’d been through worse. He only had one concern. 

“Pepper... what about my identity?” he asked nervously. 

“Well, that’s a little tougher. Everyone has seen your picture, and the kids at your school have probably put the pieces together and realized how much sense it makes.” Pepper sighed, leaned a little closer, and looked him in the eye.

“I know how much your identity means to you, Peter. You can deny the claims, if you want, but there will always be suspicion. You’ll be watched pretty carefully, and if you slip up people will know right away. But if that’s what you want, my team and I will help you as much as we can. It’s up to you, and you have time to think about it. We don’t have to talk about it in the press conference today.” Pepper’s calm, intelligent voice made Peter feel a lot better. For the first time that day, he really believed it was all going to be okay. 

Peter sat up straight and looked Pepper in the eye. “Okay. Let’s do this.” 

***

As soon as Peter stepped out from behind the curtain, he was bombarded by yelling and camera flashes. If he didn’t have his mask on, he probably would have been blinded, but as it was, he cringed back at the abundance of noise and light. 

“Spider-Man, what do you say to the allegations of you killing Mr. Beck and ordering a strike on civilians?”

“Is it true that you’re sixteen-year-old Peter Parker from Queens?”

“Peter, are you worried about going to jail?”

Pepper put a hand up and whistled loudly. The room was silenced instantly. No matter who you are, everyone knew not to mess with Pepper Potts. 

“Please everyone, hold your questions. I know everyone wants answers, but that’s why we’re here.” Pepper looked to Peter and gave him a slight nod. “Spider-Man, would you like to start us off?” Peter took a deep breath and looked at his notecards. 

“I would like to begin by saying that the allegations from the Daily Bugle that I killed Mr. Beck and ordered a drone strike on civilians is absolutely false.” Immediately an uproar started, and Pepper held up her hand again for silence. 

Peter stepped back and watched as Pepper brought out Beck’s projector and demonstrated how it worked. She went over his history as a disgruntled ex-employee and explained how he had used a manipulated version of the B.A.R.F technology to fool the world. She played footage of the illusion in London as Peter dismantled the projections and it glitched out. 

“Now if that wasn’t enough proof, Spider-Man has graciously agreed for us to show recordings from his own memories — which is how Tony had originally intended B.A.R.F to be used.” That was Peter’s cue. He walked over to a chair and sat down as the technicians began the process to replay his memories. Peter closes his eyes and hears his own voice — slightly modulated — saying, “I trusted you, Beck.” 

The audience of reporters watches as Peter is tricked by Beck’s illusions, as Beck tries to kill him over and over, as Peter lists off the names of his friends (all bleeped out, of course) and Beck laughs in his face and tells him they’ll have to die. 

They watch as Peter gets hit by a train and gets back up, how he cancels the drone strike, how Beck gets shot with his own drone and not by Peter’s hand. Anything too personal is cut out, and any maskless memories have his face expertly blurred out. The reporters are dead silent. 

After the montage is done, Peter walks to the podium. Pepper shoots him a panicked look for going off script, and Peter shoots her a reassuring smile. 

“I just wanted to say that when I became Spider-Man, my number one priority was to help people. I would never do anything to hurt anyone, including the people I try to stop. Mr. Beck may have lied to me and caused a lot of harm, but that doesn’t mean I’m glad he’s gone. Death is something that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.” Peter takes a deep breath, thinks about Tony. He would want him to be strong, he thinks. Tony would want him to be brave. 

“I want you guys to know that I will always try to do my best to protect you and save as many lives as I can. You can trust me.” Peter looks straight ahead at the reporters. He feels surprisingly calm. He knows that somewhere, Tony is watching over him. How can he be scared when he knows that?

There’s a beat of silence. 

“How can we trust you when you haven’t even told us your identity?” A reporter from the back steps forward. She’s a middle aged blonde woman. She looks smug as she raises an eyebrow at him. Her expression speaks volumes.  _ Your move.  _

The reporters around her find their voices, start to chime in in agreement. The noise reaches a dull roar, and Peter’s ears start to ring. This time, he’s the one who holds up a hand for silence. The reporters quiet. 

“The truth is...” Peter pauses. He looks back at Pepper and Morgan, who both look incredibly supportive and encouraging. Pepper looks proud. 

_ What would Tony do?  _

Peter makes a split second decision.  _ This is for you, Mr. Stark.  _ Peter hopes somewhere out there, Tony can hear him, is watching him. Is proud of him. Peter takes a deep breath in... then out. 

He pulls off his mask. 

“I am Spider-Man.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Obviously I am not super knowledgeable about EDITH or BARF technology and the full extent of their capabilities but I took some artistic liberties haha. Also I added Pepper and Morgan bc I wish they had been in the movie at least a little. Please leave kudos if you enjoyed!  
> -H❤️


End file.
